The captain of an Iranian supertanker at the center of a diplomatic standoff no longer wants to keep command of the ship, which is in need of repairs that could impede its immediate departure from Gibraltar, the sailor's lawyer said Friday.
The tanker  and its 2.1 million tons of Iranian light crude oil  seemed to perform mild maneuvers on Friday but largely remained still, shrouded in heavy fog in waters off the British overseas territory a day after authorities ended its detention for allegedly breaching European Union sanctions on Syria.
The release Thursday, as the United States reportedly maneuvered to re-seize the tanker, came as the head of the Gibraltar government said that Iran had promised him not to deliver the fuel to a sanctioned refinery in Syrian territory, although an Iranian official later disputed that those assurances had been delivered.
Any delay of the vessel's departure could provide a window of opportunity for the US to mount further legal action and try to ...

Lawyer: Iranian supertanker captain no longer wants the job

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A Russian pilot who managed to smoothly land his disabled plane in a cornfield after birds hit both engines said Friday that a quick landing was his only chance and he was not afraid of handling it.
The experienced captain, 41-year-old Damir Yusupov, said when one of the plane's engines shut down after the bird strike upon taking off from Moscow's Zhukovsky Airport that he had hoped to circle the airport and land normally.
But then, he said, his second engine cut off moments later, leaving him no choice.
He landed his Ural Airlines A321 so gently in the head-high corn that just one of the 233 people on board was hospitalised.
Yusupov's feat Thursday drew comparisons to the 2009 "miracle on the Hudson," when Captain Chesley Sullenberger safely ditched his plane in New York's Hudson River after a bird strike disabled its engines, saving the lives of all 155 people on board.
"I didn't feel any fear," Yusupov told reporters in a televised interview from Yekaterinburg. "I saw a cornfield ..

Russian pilot says landing in cornfield was his only chance

Dozens of families separated at the border as part of the Trump administration's zero tolerance policy are preparing to sue the federal government, including several who say their young children were sexually, physically or emotionally abused in federally funded foster care.
A review of 38 legal claims obtained by The Associated Press  some of which have never been made public  shows taxpayers could be on the hook for more than USD 200 million in damages.
More than 3,000 migrant children were taken from their parents at the border in recent years and many more lawsuits are expected, potentially totalling in the billions.
The families  some in the US, others already deported to Central America  are represented by grassroots immigration clinics and nonprofit groups, along with some of the country's most powerful law firms.
They're making claims under the Federal Tort Claims Act as a precursor to filing lawsuits.
The FTCA allows individuals who suffer harm as a direct result of federal ..

Migrant kids separated at border faced abuse in foster homes

Myanmar and Bangladesh will soon make a second attempt to start repatriating Rohingya Muslims, 700,000 of whom fled a security crackdown in Myanmar almost two years ago, officials from the two countries and the United Nations said Friday.
Myanmar government spokesman Zaw Htay, speaking in his country's capital, Naypyitaw, said the parties concerned had agreed that the process would begin next Thursday.
Bangladesh Refugee, Relief and Repatriation Commissioner Abul Kalam said the identities of the refugees have been confirmed by Myanmar and they could go back there if they want.
Speaking in Dhaka, Bangladesh's capital, he said the government had ordered local officials in Cox's Bazar district to locate those on the list in the four refugee camps there, but their repatriation would only happen if they want to return voluntarily.
He said Bangladesh is ready to provide support to any refugees who wish to return home, but also would not use force to make them go back.
Caroline Gluck, a ...

Myanmar, Bangladesh schedule Rohingya repatriation

Two suspicious objects that prompted an evacuation of a major lower Manhattan subway station during the morning commute Friday are not explosives, police said.
The bomb squad cleared the items found at the Fulton Street station, New York Police Department Counterterrorism Chief James Waters said on Twitter.
Waters posted photos of the objects, which looked like pressure cookers or crockpots.
"The suspicion is that they were placed there to suggest that they were electronic devices and possible bombs," Gov. Andrew Cuomo said on WCBS-AM after the all clear was given.
The devices were found at the line that carries No. 2 and 3 trains around 7 a.m.
The station is a busy transit hub a few blocks from the World Trade Center.
In 2017, a would-be suicide attacker set off a homemade pipe bomb in an underground passageway at the Times Square subway station during rush hour, seriously injuring himself.

NYPD: Objects found at subway station aren't explosives

Congo's year-long Ebola outbreak has spread to a new province, with two cases, including one death, confirmed in South Kivu, according to the government health ministry.
Two new patients tested positive in the Mwenga area of South Kivu, adding to North Kivu and Ituri provinces where there are confirmed cases of the disease, according to the health ministry.
The new cases are "a 24-year-old woman and her 7-month-old child," said Dr Jean-Jacques Muyembe, the director of Congo's National Institute for Biomedical Research, in a statement released on Friday.
The mother and her child had visited Beni, in North Kivu province, which is the center of the outbreak.
They returned to South Kivu province where they fell sick with Ebola.
The mother died Thursday and her child is being treated by a response team, said Muyembe's statement.
The Ebola outbreak in eastern Congo has killed 1,808 people out of 2,765 confirmed cases, according to the new report.
The current outbreak, which started on ...

Ebola outbreak spreads to 3rd province in eastern Congo

Police say a major lower Manhattan subway station has been evacuated after a report of a suspicious device.
Police are at the Fulton Street station investigating the possible find at the line that carries No. 2 and 3 trains. Authorities were called around 7 a.m. Friday.
There are no reports of injuries.
The station is a busy transit hub a few blocks from the World Trade Center.

NYC subway station evacuated after suspicious package report

The UN migration agency says more than 500 migrants have lost their lives in the Americas so far this year, about a 33% increase from a year ago.
International Organization for Migration spokesman Joel Millman said Friday that "turmoil" in Venezuela may account for "much of 2019's fatality surge." More than 4 million people have left Venezuela since 2015.
IOM has confirmed 89 deaths of Venezuelans this year, second only to more than 100 who were of unknown nationalities.
In total, 514 people have died this year in the Americas through August 14, up from 384 a year ago. It's the fastest that the 500 mark has been reached since IOM began counting in 2014.

UN: Migrant deaths in Americas top 500 mark so far this year

Thames Valley police say a British police officer investigating a reported burglary has been killed. Ten males have been arrested and are in custody, including a 13-year-old.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson says he is "deeply shocked and appalled" by the death of Thames Valley police officer Andrew Harper. Johnson says in a tweet that his thoughts are with Harper's family, friends and colleagues.
Johnson says Harper's death "is the most powerful reminder that police officers up and down the country put themselves at risk every single day to keep us safe.
They have my absolute support." Harper, of the Roads Policing Proactive Unit, was killed while "performing his duties" in Berkshire, in southeast England, at 11:30 p.m. Thursday. Further details were not immediately available.

10 males arrested after UK police officer is slain

Zimbabwe's police fired tear gas Friday to disperse anti-government protesters in the center of the capital, Harare.
A few hundred demonstrators gathered in Africa Unity Square, despite a police ban on the protest that was upheld by Zimbabwe's High Court.
Police fired tear gas which engulfed the central square to disperse the protesters, who ran into nearby streets. Some demonstrators were arrested by police and several were arrested. At least one person, a woman, was beaten by police.
The clashes came after Zimbabwe's High Court upheld the police ban on the opposition protest.
The court early Friday rejected the application from the opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change, to declare the planned protest to be legal.
Although protesters gathered, many more Harare residents stayed off the streets and many shops closed to avoid any possible trouble.
The opposition party had planned what it said would be a peaceful protest to press President Emmerson Mnangagwa to set up a ...

Zimbabwe police, protesters clash in Zimbabwe's capital

Dutch Princess Christina, the youngest sister of former Queen Beatrix, died Friday after a battle with bone cancer.
She was 72.
Christina, the youngest of four daughters of the late Queen Juliana and her German-born husband Prince Bernhard, died at the Noordeinde Palace in The Hague, according to the Dutch Royal House.
In a tweet, King Willem-Alexander, Queen Maxima and Beatrix described Christina as "a striking personality with a warm heart."
Publicity-shy Christina and her former husband Jorge Guillermo, the son of a Cuban doctor, had three children, Bernardo, Nicols and Juliana.
The couple divorced in 1996. The marriage removed Christina from the line of succession to the Dutch throne and allowed her to live outside the royal court.
During her life, she lived in countries including Italy, the United States and Canada.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said by relinquishing her right to the throne, Christina "created room for herself to lead her own life. A life dominated by family, ..

Dutch Princess Christina, sister of former queen, dies at 72

The UN refugee agency says Myanmar and Bangladesh are making a second attempt to start repatriating Rohingya Muslims after more than 700,000 of them fled a security crackdown in Myanmar almost two years ago.
Agency spokeswoman Caroline Gluck said Friday that the Bangladesh government has asked for its help in verifying the 3,450 people on a new list of returnees are going back to Myanmar voluntarily. She said the list was whittled from 22,000 names that Bangladesh had sent to Myanmar for verification.
Myanmar's military in August 2017 launched a counterinsurgency campaign in response to an attack by a Rohingya insurgent group.
The army operation led to the Rohingya exodus to Bangladesh and accusations that security forces committed mass rapes and killings and burned thousands of homes.

UN says 2nd attempt to return Rohingya to Myanmar planned

Tennessee executed its third inmate in the electric chair since November, killing a man Thursday who maintained that he didn't stab a mother and her 15-year-old daughter to death in 1986.
State officials pronounced 56-year-old Stephen West dead at 7:27 pm at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville.
For his final words, West said, "In the beginning, God created man." Then he started to cry and continued, "And Jesus wept. That is all."
This week, West decided he preferred to die in the electric chair after previously voicing no preference, which would have defaulted him to lethal injection. His attorney in a court filing wrote that the electric chair is "also unconstitutional, yet still less painful" compared with the state's preference of a three-drug lethal injection.
Attorneys for inmates David Miller and Edmund Zagorski made the same arguments before they chose to die by the electric chair in 2018. Both unsuccessfully argued to courts that Tennessee's procedure, which ...

Tennessee inmate executed in electric chair for killings

A manhunt was underway in New Zealand on Friday after an Australian tourist was killed following what police believe was a random attack on the van that he and his partner were sleeping inside.
Police said the couple was parked at a scenic spot near the coastal town of Raglan when a suspect approached their van just after 3 a.m. on Friday.
Detective Inspector Graham Pitkethley told media the suspect fired a number of shots into the van, injuring the Australian tourist. The woman managed to escape and run away, and she called police.
Pitkethley said the suspect then stole the van and drove away with the injured tourist still inside.
Police found the van at 8 a.m. about 75 kilometers (46 miles) away in the village of Gordonton with the body of the Australian inside.
It wasn't immediately clear if the man had died from the wounds he received in the initial attack or had been subject to further violence.
"This is a tragic incident," Pitkethley said. He said police were supporting the ...

Australian tourist killed in New Zealand after attack on van

Hong Kong's government announced tax cuts and higher social spending Thursday to reverse a deepening economic slump aggravated by anti-government protests and the U.S.-Chinese tariff war.
The territory's financial secretary, Paul Chan, cut this year's official growth forecast to 0 to 1 per cent, which could be the worst performance since 2009 during the global financial crisis. The previous forecast was 2 per cent to 3 per cent.
Hurt by the plunge in US-Chinese trade, growth already was declining before anti-government protests erupted this year over a proposed extradition law and other grievances.
"The recent social incidents have hit the retail trade, restaurants and tourism, adding a further blow to an already-weak economy," said a statement issued by Chan's agency.
It also cited the impact of slowing trade in Asia, global financial market volatility and the risk of disorder as Britain leaves the European Union.
The measures announced Thursday will "provide impetus for our economy" 

Hong Kong cuts taxes to shore up economy amid protests

South Korea's military said North Korea fired two projectiles into the sea Friday to extend a recent streak of weapons tests believed to be aimed at pressuring Washington and Seoul over slow nuclear diplomacy.
South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said the projectiles launched from the North's eastern coast flew about 230 kilometers (143 miles) on an apogee of 30 kilometers (18 miles) before landing in waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan.
The Joints Chiefs of Staff said the U.S. and South Korean militaries were analyzing the launches but didn't immediately say whether the weapons were ballistic missiles or rocket artillery.
It was North Korea's sixth round of weapons launches since late July when it began stepping up its weapons demonstrations while expressing frustration over stalemated nuclear negotiations with the United States and continuance of U.S.-South Korea joint military drills that the North sees as an invasion rehearsal.
South Korea's presidential office said ...

S Korea says N Korea has fired 2 more projectiles into sea

Mexican authorities said that federal police found 65 severely dehydrated and hungry migrants from Bangladesh and Sri Lanka wandering on a highway in the Gulf coast state of Veracruz.
The federal Public Safety Department said on Thursday that the migrants recounted a long, complicated trip in a bid to reach the US border.
The migrants reported they set out April 24 from an airport in Qatar and flew to Turkey and Colombia. From there, they moved through Ecuador, Panama and Guatemala before reaching Mexico.
Once in Mexico, the migrants said, they boarded boats and travelled on the Coatzacoalcos River, though it is not clear why. The river does not lead anywhere near the US border.

Mexico finds 65 lost Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan migrants

A humanitarian boat carrying 147 migrants rescued at sea was eventually allowed to let nine persons disembark on Thursday night on a tiny Italian island, but the others were stuck aboard for a 15th night, as the drama was swept up in Italy's rapidly worsening government crisis.
With a political standoff exacerbated by the migration issue, Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte rebuked his interior minister for being "obsessive" about closing Italian ports in a migrant crackdown.
The Spanish rescue boat Open Arms tweeted that the "urgent" evacuation of five persons was authorized for psychological reasons and four family members were allowed to accompany them.
The nine were transferred by the Italian coast guard in a motorized rubber dinghy.
The fate of the remaining 138 migrants stayed unresolved.
"We continue to not have authorization to disembark the other persons aboard," Open Arms said. "This will be their 15th night" sleeping on the crowded ship, which has described deteriorating medical 

Italy's PM: Salvini 'obsessed' with blocking migrants at sea

Israel said Thursday that it will bar two Democratic congresswomen from entering the country ahead of a planned visit over their support for a Palestinian-led boycott movement, a decision announced shortly after President Donald Trump tweeted that it would "show great weakness" to allow them in.
The move to bar Reps. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota from visiting appeared to be unprecedented.
It marked a deep foray by Israel into America's bitterly polarised politics and a sharp escalation of Israel's campaign against the international boycott movement.
The two newly-elected Muslim members of Congress are outspoken critics of Israel's treatment of the Palestinians and have repeatedly sparred with Trump over a range of issues.
Tlaib's family immigrated to the United States from the West Bank, where she still has close relatives.
They had planned to visit Jerusalem and the West Bank on a tour organised by a Palestinian organisation aimed at highlighting the plight ..

Israel bars entry to outspoken US congresswomen

Australia's fast start to the second Ashes test was slowed by Jonny Bairstow's half-century that pushed England to 258 all out and the latest cheap dismissal of David Warner early in the reply at Lord's on Thursday.
The Australians were 30-1 at stumps on an intriguing and action-packed day two that helped to make up for the washout on the opening day of the test.
With England stuttering at 138-6 after being put in to bat, Bairstow put on 72 for the seventh wicket with Chris Woakes (32) before overseeing more valuable runs from the tail which nudged the team to a respectable total.
Bairstow was eventually dismissed for 52, giving Nathan Lyon a third wicket of the innings to move the spinner to 355 in tests  tying paceman Dennis Lillee in third place on Australia's all-time list. Quicks Josh Hazlewood (3-58) and Pat Cummins (3-61) also took three wickets apiece.
Opener Rory Burns was England's top scorer with 53, following up his century in the first test won by Australia by 251 runs at 

Ashes: Australia closes on 30-1, replying to England's 258

Hundreds of firefighters backed by water-dropping planes and helicopters struggled for a third day Thursday to tackle a wildfire burning through a pine forest on the Greek island of Evia.
Nearly 400 firefighters, 11 helicopters and 13 planes  including two from Italy and one from Spain sent in following Greece's request for help  fought the blaze which broke out hours before dawn on Tuesday and has ravaged a nature reserve.
The fire department said Thursday evening that the wildfire was "developing."
The most active parts of the blaze were far from inhabited areas, burning through dense pine forest in canyons hard to reach by land.
Residents gradually returned to four villages that had been evacuated on the first day, but were on standby should they be required to leave again.
A state of emergency has been declared in the area, and Greece requested firefighting assistance from other European countries.
A volunteer firefighter who suffered burns underwent surgery on Thursday, and ...

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